A move for environmental sanity

What assuredly is environmental attorneys’ full-employment dream, asserting that Fourth of July fireworks harm the environment, is now public nightmare with other events big and small in city parks and on city streets at risk as well.

Birthday parties, farmers markets, parades, charity runs – all could be subject to the expense of environmental reviews, delays and last-minute cancellations if a Superior Court judge’s ruling ultimately stands.

The issue began with Marco Gonzalez of Coast Law Group arguing that fireworks displays are “projects” subject to environmental review under the landmark California Environmental Quality Act. When the San Diego City Council amended its fireworks permit ordinance in November, the door was opened to the argument that city park and special event permits should be reviewed as well. Superior Court Judge Linda Quinn agreed, but delayed enforcement of her ruling pending appeals. The council has backtracked to avoid the problem, but the judge has not concurred as yet.

Organizers of special events or citizens who take out tens of thousands of park use permits each year are in a quandary. Can their event go forward?

This seems less a matter of environmental protection than of parties manipulating environmental law to their own end. Form a group and sue. Gonzalez and his $756,132 legal bill – thankfully rejected by the judge – are Exhibit One. The litigant, California Environmental Rights Foundation, an entity with the law firm’s address and phone number, is Exhibit Two.

Is a birthday party with a jumping tent for kids a “project” that “may cause a direct physical change in the environment” and deserving of extensive review? That is preposterous.

Alas, the damage to the environment could be colossal if the system becomes so clogged with birthday party applications that real projects do not get the scrutiny they deserve.

We need legal clarity – and soon.

Quinn is retiring, but her successor, Judge Ronald Prager, could provide that clarity if he narrows the case to its original focus, fireworks. Or, better yet, by also dismissing the fireworks litigation. Any appeal could take six months or more.

The odds may be long, but the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce is leading an effort to fix the law. Chamber executive Paul Webster said a bill being drafted would simply exempt from environmental review events that are temporary, require government permits, do not result in earth movement and do not result in permanent structures.

That seems like common sense and fits the description of a birthday party in a park or a parade down Harbor Drive. Not to mention once-a-year fireworks displays.

Environmental legislation and coastline regulation, most of the public would agree, are good things. But abuse of environmental law can cause great public harm. Opposing community fireworks displays is just one example.